It may just be a sign of the changing times, that many of the leaders that gathered for Friday’s third meeting of the Multinational Technology Forum were women. On the fringes of the forum, Siliconrepublic.com editor John Kennedy chaired a panel discussion with some of those tech leaders to discuss the talent challenge, and women in technology.

The Multinational Technology Forum was established in early 2013, and is a voluntary industry-led forum of business leaders from multinational technology companies with significant operations in Ireland. Its stated objective is to “develop the vision and then positively influence the development of the overall multinational technology industry in Ireland, leveraging the thought leadership of this uniquely positioned group”.

We got some of those leaders together for a panel discussion, chaired by Kennedy:

Louise Phelan, PayPal

Julie Spillane, Accenture

Rosemaree Dannaher, IBM

Maeve McConnan, IDA

Watch the videos below for their take on the Multinational Technology Forum, the challenge for all in the industry when it comes to accessing talent and, of course, a key element in this challenge – ensuring we encourage more girls and women into the technology industry.

Part 1 – The Multinational Technology Forum and what Ireland should be doing to ensure a greater supply of talent for the technology sector:

Ann O’Dea is CEO and co-founder of Silicon Republic, Europe’s leading technology and innovation news service, reporting online since 2001. Ann is the driving force behind Silicon Republic’s Women Invent campaign, launched on International Women’s Day 2013, to champion remarkable women role models in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and to help tackle the gender gap in the knowledge industries She is the founder of Inspirefest, a unique new international sci-tech event, which is grabbing headlines for disrupting the traditionally ‘male and pale’ tech conference calendar.
Ann was awarded a fellowship in May 2015 from the Irish Computer Society for her work in championing women in STEM. Ann received a Net Visionary award from the Irish Internet Association in 2015 for her work on ensuring the visibility of remarkable women role models in her industry, and was named ‘Media Woman of the Year’ at the Irish Tatler Women of the Year Awards 2014. In 2015, she was the first woman to be inducted into the Irish Internet Association’s Hall of Fame.
Ann sits on the advisory board of the Digital Youth Council, and the Royal Irish Academy’s Physical, Chemical and Mathematical Sciences Committee. She is a regular speaker and moderator at tech and STEM events.